Category Archive

What works? Curriculum mostly
Nov 12, 2009

Where should we spend precious education dollars, especially now that we don’t have so many? A new paper suggests there’s a much bigger bang for the buck when you invest in curriculum, rather than expensive “solutions,” like charter schools or merit pay.

Is there really a charter ‘effect’?
Oct 15, 2009

A new report supposedly puts to eternal rest the arguments that many charter schools do better with students because they have better students to start with.

Then and now
Sep 17, 2009

Let’s start off the year with a big-picture portrait of the New York City public school system, using some “then and now” comparisons.

Evaluating teachers: Beware of formulas
Jul 02, 2009

Something you learn from watching teachers work: There’s more than one way to skin a cat.

Nurses can achieve bachelor’s through SUNY program
Jun 29, 2009

For UFT nurses who wish to further their careers, the Cohort Program in Community Health at SUNY Empire State College is a dream come true.

ELA scores — the uncut version
May 21, 2009

If you are in an elementary or middle school, you’ve probably been talking about the 3rd-to-8th-grade ELA test scores, with their good news for schools that showed large gains, and with piles of new data to digest.

The stubborn persistence of the achievement gap
Apr 23, 2009

Though racial gaps in test score performance and in other student achievement measures are the shame of the nation, history suggests they are by no means inevitable.

Research roundup: A blizzard of new findings
Mar 19, 2009

That snow day? Perfect for making snowmen, staying home in pajamas, or … reading education research! Someone had to do it, and “Insight” made the sacrifice.

City to ELL teachers: Sink or swim
Feb 19, 2009

A special set of skills is required to teach English Language Learners. The problem is these skills are not widely taught, they aren’t easy to apply and, in far too many instances, the DOE’s hands-off approach to instruction leaves teachers of ELLs to learn them by trial and error.

Hard times and special education
Jan 22, 2009

If you can judge a society by how it treats its most vulnerable members, then one way to judge a school system is by how it treats its special education students.

What it’s going to take
Nov 20, 2008

Many teachers have children on their rosters who are chronically absent. The teacher follows procedures, makes the proper reports and talks with the student when she or he does show up. But beyond these steps, teachers often face a locked door. The child is slipping from their hands, and there is little they can do.

Progress Reports not ready for prime time
Oct 23, 2008

Still trying to make sense of the School Progress Reports? Daniel Koretz, a widely respected professor of educational measurement at Harvard, has looked at them, too, and warns that they are based on some shaky assumptions.

Knocking the nonsense out of test scores
Sep 25, 2008

When No Child Left Behind was first adopted, many people viewed achievement testing as a relatively straightforward enterprise whose results could tell us all we needed to know about student performance and school quality, writes testing expert Daniel Koretz in his 2008 book “Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells Us.” They were sadly mistaken.

Asking the right questions
Jun 05, 2008

What do teachers want? More money? Sure. Autonomy? Often yes. Better oversight? In some situations. Protection? Yes. Challenge? Stability? Change? Yes, yes and yes.

Springtime in education research
May 08, 2008

One amazing thing about education research is just how much of it there is. It’s like grass in spring, sprouting in such abundance it suddenly seems to be everywhere.

Improving teaching: the real value of value-added
Apr 10, 2008

Most teachers would agree with the research showing they are a key factor — probably the key school-based factor — in student achievement growth.

‘Gotcha’ gets data
Feb 14, 2008

The surprise revelation over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend that the Department of Education is looking at ways to evaluate teachers based on student test scores seemed of a piece with the DOE’s earlier efforts to “improve teacher quality.” When the department last went public on this front, it was to announce that it had hired a stable full of high-priced lawyers to help principals get rid of “bad” teachers.

Rethinking Assessments
Dec 06, 2007

Had enough assessment yet? If your answer is no, you still want more, call 1-800-OPL-EASE. For the rest of us, it is time to halt the madness.

Growing an independent voice
Oct 18, 2007

Many people in this city have called for an independent research group that would filter the mountains of data Tweed now both generates and interprets — and offer perhaps a different but more dispassionate view of what it all really means.

Moving Students forward — how do you measure that?
Sep 20, 2007

Starting with the launch of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2002, the hoopla surrounding test results has climbed to a fever pitch.

Pssst! It’s not a scandal Graduation rates show respectable gains
Jun 07, 2007

As Mayor Bloomberg was quick to announce (the day before less-than-stellar ELA scores came out), the city’s four-year graduation rate rose 1.5 percentage points to almost 60 percent last year, the highest in 21 years.

Hard-to-staff schools: Incentives at work
May 24, 2007

Getting as many highly qualified and effective teachers as are needed into hard-to-staff schools may be the toughest challenge yet.

Pay for performance not performing well
Apr 12, 2007

Guess what? New teacher pay-for-performance plans in Florida and Texas have run into big problems. Not surprised? Aha. You may be a teacher.

‘Equalizing’ teachers: Where DOE’s Fair Student Funding falls short
Mar 15, 2007

Who is the true defender of poor and minority student rights? It’s a discussion that’s loaded even before a situation becomes clear.

Fame and Shame: Groups’ campaign welcome;
Feb 15, 2007

District 24, exposed.

Rescuing dropouts in today’s high-stakes schools
Feb 15, 2007

The principal of one of the city’s second-chance, or “transfer,” high schools was worrying recently about two issues that didn’t seem to have much to do with graduation rates or Regents scores.

The toughest choice: Doing what works
Jan 18, 2007

Every teacher has had a brush with the “next big thing” (NBT). A principal talks to some consultant and comes back fired up by the next big thing in teaching or school organization.

The facts about classroom ‘miracle workers’
Oct 05, 2006

Raise your hand if you’ve heard any of these phrases recently: “Teachers change lives”; “teachers do God’s work”; “they produce miracles every day.”

Pomp or circumstance?
Jun 08, 2006

Recent research suggests some links between specific school conditions and graduation rates.

E.T.S. - R.I.P.
Apr 27, 2006

The Department of Education’s decision to end the Extended Time Schools program this summer closes the book on one of the city’s — and nation’s — most successful programs for turning around low-achieving schools.

News you can use
Apr 13, 2006

This month, Reality Check offers summaries of five articles from recent education publications that should be of practical use to people working in schools.

Leveling the playing field of dreams
Mar 16, 2006

Schools must be able to demonstrate that, on a level playing field, their spending and their student results are measured accurately and the public can see how they operate.

The private school advantage? Maybe not
Feb 16, 2006

Comparing private schools and public schools is risky business. It’s not only “apples to oranges” in terms of the cost, or the type of governance.

Early-childhood education a no-brainer — so where’s the funding?
Jan 19, 2006

The National Research Council says pathways being forged in the brain during the first five years of life set the stage for all future cognitive growth. If that is so, it’s powerful evidence for “front-loading” education reform by concentrating resources in the early years